Here's the Amazon.com link:

http://tinyurl.com/yfe6rp

The paperback is about 500 pages long, but it's a quick, fun read that you should easily be able to complete by reading during the hour Heroes normally airs on until it (or 24) returns.

Now, why am I recommending this book? For those who missed the end of the last Heroes talkback, I believe that the theory of time that the show is using is similar to what's presented in this book.

(Even ignoring that, it's a great book)

There are also some serious implications if I'm right, and it's impossible to really discuss them unless you've read the book. And yes, I will be checking to see who has read it when Heroes returns (I will be re-reading it with a notebook open and a pen ready).

So what are you waiting for? Buy it! Add it to your Wish List! To quote Brent Sienna, "Fly Nerds, Fly!"

How about this: Annoying FBI Chick is Claire's Real Mother!

Nah, I'm going to go with Micah.

(Just kidding)

1.1 One does not have full control of the time travel. One example of this is The Morphail Effect. This concept of time can be referred to as circular causation. For exampes of circular causation, see Robert A. Heinlein's story By His Bootstraps.

Also: In 1.1, time travel is constrained to prevent paradox. If one attempts to make a paradox, one undergoes involuntary or uncontrolled time travel. Michael Moorcock uses a form of this principle and calls it The Morphail Effect. In the time-travel stories of Connie Willis, time travelers encounter "slippage" which prevents them from either reaching the intended time or translates them a sufficient distance from their destination at the intended time, as to prevent any paradox from occurring.

Example: A man who travels into the past and attempts to kill Hitler finds himself in Montana in 1945.

This is what the book says, and I believe that's what the show is doing. When you thinking about Hiro being sent to Japan and having to take the bus to the Cafe, this interpretation seems to apply.

I need to check out that Heinlein reference.

BadMrWonka: Bowling is one of the most chaotic systems in the universe. While I wouldn't go so far as to say it's beholden to the laws of quantum mechanics, I will state that predicting a score, even if one has foreknowledge of it, will invariably change it.

Therefore, by predicting a 194-211 series for you, it's very likely it won't happen.

If it does, well, it just confirms the fact that I'm a time-traveler with l33t sk1llz.

And will anyone ever say, "Nikki, I want to speak with Sybil now"?

As for me, well, I already have a codeword/name so I can verify my future self when he appears. Although I wonder if he's here already.

the Buddhist Madhyamika-Prasangika philosophical school had an interesting way of explaining this dependence, or relativity, thus: it makes little sense to speak of time as a fixed entity that is independent of all other phenomena, saying, for example, that an object exists in "the" past or "the" future. rather, it is more accurate to see time as relative to each and every phenomenon; so one should speak of objects having *their own* past, present and future.

take a functioning chair: the past of this chair has not yet happened - it's a thing that will exist only once the chair has ceased (e.g. once it has been broken into pieces). once this has happened, the chair will be a past object - its past will then exist. whilst the chair is a present object, however, its past is a future object . likewise, the future of the chair ceased as soon as the chair became a present object. its future became a past object once the chair has become a present object. so you can say that the past of an object exists in its future and the future of an object existed in its past.

this does actually make sense, but you probably need to be fairly clear-headed to get it, so put down the blunt...

you plant a seed yesterday - it ceases - and gives rise to a shoot today.

or something. now i've got a headache - pass the blunt...

is this what keeps the writers of Heroes awake at night? i doubt it... :-)

Now, this theory of absolute-time independence requires an understanding that future time is unwritten and that time-travelling backwards erases everything on the way back. Not all theories subscribe to that belief however.

One important note though: the grandfather paradox does not exist in this scenario, for the same reason ChrTh(40) wouldn't cease to exist.

WOW, HRG used the Haitian on his SON!

BTW, in case anyone is wondering, Claire says "I'm sorry" to Peter in the scene. (Side effect from being hearing-impaired: I can read TV lips sometimes)

Claire's "I'm Sorry" is quite heartbreaking.

While I think it's interesting what Claire says, I can't get over the watch. Just like when Mohinder's Pop dies, the camera seems to like the watch a little too much, if you know what I mean.

I also sense a Lost-like dropoff in Season 2, but I'll try to stay positive for now. :)

2) EVERYONE has forgotten what HRG told Sylar: his body/mind is falling apart because he's reworked his DNA too many times taking powers. That's why Sylar needs Claire's power, to stave off the deterioration, NOT to use himself as a bomb and survive (as we've predicted in the past). Therefore, it seems to me that since Sylar hasn't gotten to Claire, once he gets Radiation Dude (who, as we have seen, has little control of his powers), that'll be the final straw and Sylar will just Ka-Blammo!

This has implications, namely: Saving the cheerleader had nothing to do with saving New York! Saving the cheerleader was done to save the world from a Sylar who wasn't degenerating and thus who would grow "infinitely" strong. The Heroes have saved the world, but at the same time: they've doomed New York!

But in Hiro's vision, the police act as if everything is normal, and Isaac is dead. While it's possible Isaac's life has been saved since then, for some reason I don't think so. However, that begs the question:

Why would Sylar explode if he can see/paint the future? Originally (a few weeks ago) I opined that Sylar would detonate-and-heal to take out several heroes in NYC (including Nathan Petrelli) after seeing the future due to Isaac's power. If, however, Sylar does detonate due to the DNA degradation, than that makes less sense. And if taking Radiation Dude (Up and Let's Go!) is the final trigger, wouldn't Sylar have foreseen that after taking Isaac?

It's a mystery. Guess we'll have to wait until 2007.

She's Man-E-Faces.

I now think Nikki needs to learn to use her l33t fighting sk1llz without reverting to the Jessica personality in order to do so. That's HER hero's quest.

Although I do think she'd be cooler as Man-E-Faces.

Specific aspects of this:

Walking through walls: In theory, can't be done, because to do so would require him making himself fully ghost, and then he'd plummet through the Earth. However, this fact is often ignored in fiction.

Choking Jessica: Apparently, the ghosting still allows him to keep his body connected even if ghosting intervenes--so when he reaches into a door to unlock it, the wrist is ghost but the hand is physical after passing through. When he choked her, the part inside of her was kept ghosted.

Shimmering windows, door: No idea. Probably done for effect.

Removing the bullet: I wondered about this myself, but my guess would be as follows: he'd have to make sure that he didn't accidentally let anything else fall out (surrounding muscle tissue, for example). He may not have enough control for that. (Or he let the bullet out and we didn't see it).

How's that?

Conversly, he could flip through a wall by handstanding first (keep his palms solid) and then falling through the wall (making his feet solid before they land).

Mindsquisher is able to manipulate the brain--removing memories, for example. What he can also do is erect shields around the brain(s) so that other powers -- such as Psycop's -- that involve the brain are stopped. He doesn't make the person powerless, otherwise they'd keep him around Sylar constantly.

chrth, for the "... so it must be something that suppresses brain functions. Maybe they have all the TVs set to Studio 60?" Beautiful!!

biggles for: "In the "Millenium" theory, while a host of physical beings, including Cheryl Ladd, Susannah Hoffman, and Kris Kristofferson, enter a wormhole (or interdimensional portal), only Kris Kristofferson will emerge on the other side, with career intact." (sort of a wormhole conservation of talent principle)

My gratitude to both of you for the laugh out loud moments.

Peter's cough was puzzling, and suggests that either it was not due to a simple ailment that Claire Proximity would have cured, or if it was, then his ability to mimic is waning. Much comment about the later stage "dream" sequence has occurred already, so I will just add that when he had his train vision, it was Hiro from the future with a message--not an unalterable vision of the future. And, if he mimics the powers of others, maybe he was mimicing the SplodoPower of someone else--the team realized he was spontaneously mimicing before they could get him away from whoever the real Splodo was, and so had to turn and run away from him.

Finally, no one seems to have mentioned his early dream sequence, in which Nathan became Sylar. This combined with the 'tude Nathan always has, and the sinister look Nathan was sporting in the final dream sequence suggests to me that Nathan is EVIL INCARNATE, or at least a sneaky villain. He is a politician for god's sake, that was our FIRST clue right there! They spoon-fed us that one!

cheers

Maybe there is not a literal Splodo--but could he not be mimicing the Radioactive Dude, if a-mimicing he must be?

First, she has Voice, so she can command Sylar to do ANYTHING. Seems like she could have protected herself a little better. And seems like she need not have planned on giving him a gun. She could have given him poison, or sleeping pills to OD on , or a whole variety of things. So it seems a little sloppy to me--more like a We Need To Kill Somebody for DRAMA, SHOCK and AWE, and a way to let Sylar escape. Speaking of which...

...why could Sylar suddenly use his powers on Pixie, but not before or on others? Was he holding back--seems unlikely from the earlier scenes, where he would have ripped Claire's dad a host of new orifices if he could have. So why? Sloppy writing, or deliberate and careful stuff that will be revealed in due time? I hope it is the latter, but I am worried it is the former.

Now, the question is, why can he raise permanent memory barriers but mind-protection barriers require his presence for HRG? My guess is that memory barriers are passive while mind-protection barriers are active, and if Haitian Zero wasn't around, HRG wouldn't be able to withstand mental assaults.

Speaking of Morph, I'm wondering if the dinosaur Hiro fights is actually a Morph-style villain that we meet much later this season or next.

I do like the fact that people keep asking Isaac to paint stuff that they hope will help them with what's next, but it doesn't.